NEWSLETTER POLICY
1. 2. a. b. c. d. e. f. 3 a b c 4 a b c. d. e. f. 5. a. b. c. d.
Welcoming Words.....................................................................................1
News from Interns....................................................................................2
Catarina Silva (VP EA)
Théo Favard (VP ER) Manuel Almeida (Grant Co)
Katarzyna Dąbrowska (VP Edu)
Beatriz Nobre (Training Co) Andrei-Tudor Budan (Parliamentarian)
News from Brussels 3
EHSAS Live Meeting World Mental Health Day 2022 European Cancer Summit 2022 New from Members 4
PPSA Poland
ANEPF France
APEF Portugal BPhD Germany ŠSSFD Slovenia
KNPSV The Netherlands Members' National News.........................................................................5
Poland. Portugal Germany Greece
Contents
Welcoming Words
Welcoming Words
Dear Readers,
It is my greatest pleasure to present to you the first Policy Newsletter of the current EPSA's mandate
I hope this will give you a broad insight into the various policy and advocacy initiatives being worked on at the moment. Throughout the Newsletter, you will have the opportunity to discover our new EPSA interns and their activities. Furthermore, you will have the chance to learn about the news from Brussels. EPSA's Members also gave us an insight into their projects and shared national news of their respective countries. Finally, in the last section, you may dive a bit into the policy work, missions, and experiences of one EPSA alumnus
I would like to thank personally each person that contributed to the creation of this mandate's first Policy Newsletter.
I wish you a great reading and kindly ask you to please keep in mind to what extent you can make a difference just by being informed and engaged, because every step matters!
Yours in EPSA,
(2022-2023)
Charlotte Thibault Policy Coordinator
News from Interns
News from Interns
Dear Readers,
My name is Catarina Silva and I’m a recently graduated Master in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Lisbon, Portugal I am currently (for ten more days) 23 years old and this year I hold the position of EPSA Vice President of European Affairs.
As you might all know by now, being in my position comes with the amazing “buy one, get one free” premise. I knew if I were to be elected, I’d be spending ten months in one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world. The three months I had between my election and my moving to Brussels passed by so fast that the next thing I knew, it was already September 5th and I was starting my internship at the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU), the voice of Community Pharmacies across Europe. I’ve been learning about practices from different countries by contacting PGEU Members directly or by attending Meetings and/or Working Groups where important dossiers are discussed. I’ve also been helping with the Secretariat’s daily missions and external communication and representation. As an intern at PGEU, I can contribute as EPSA, offering a student perspective to the work of one of the most important stakeholders in the s lobby for EPSA’s advocacy work on representing tudents. Yours in EPSA, Catarina Silva Vice President of European Affairs 2022/2023
News from Interns
My name is Théo Favard, I am 23 years old and I am a student in my 5th year of pharmacy in Montpellier, in the south of France, specialising in the industry. This year, I am Vice President in charge of External Relations at EPSA where my aim is to strengthen the relations between European pharmaceutical students and practising professionals, as well as other student organisations with similar aims. I act as the leader of the EPSA External Relations Department where I plan the vision, aims and objectives of the department and ensure that Coordinators deliver their work on high standards.
I moved to Brussels at the end of August, and started my internship at the beginning of September with the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) EFPIA represents the biopharmaceutical industry operating in Europe. Through its direct membership of 36 national associations, 39 leading pharmaceutical companies and a growing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), EFPIA’s mission is to create a collaborative environment that enables our members to innovate, discover, develop and deliver new therapies and vaccines for people across Europe, as well as contribute to the European economy I support various working groups in which there is a representative of each industry and association represented by EFPIA This allows me to learn more about lobbying, policy work and all European news related to the pharmaceutical industry. As an intern it also allows me to represent EPSA directly to our partners and stakeholders.
Yours in EPSA, Théo Favard
Vice President of External Relations 2022/202
News from Interns
Hey, everyone! My name is Manuel Duarte de Almeida and I am from Lisbon, Portugal. Currently, I am 21 years old and am in my 4th year of pharmaceutical studies. At this time, I hold the Grant Coordinator position, in EPSA
Last year, I got acquainted with the EPSA Interns’ project but had no intention of applying this year, especially with me being in the middle of my studies… The call was sent to the Team, and then I started thinking about how being based in Brussels for the year could positively impact my work in EPSA, my experience as a pharmacist to-be and, of course, my house survival skills as a young adult. It was not something I could realistically pass up on, particularly when I found out that a vacancy for Vaccines Europe was available The areas of public health, immunisation and vaccine technology are some that I find quite interesting and combining that with the chance to be part of a European Trade Association was a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And so I applied, and after a motivation letter, a CV and a few interviews, I got the place!
Now, together with Kasia, we work and represent EPSA within Vaccines Europe and we also contribute to representing all of our members here, in Brussels, taking part in relevant events and being close to stakeholders with whom we can share our advocacy projects and fight for a better future for all Pharmaceutical Sciences’ Students.
Yours in EPSA, Manuel Duarte de Almeida Grant Coordinator 2022/2023
News from Interns
My name is Katarzyna, aka Kasia, and I am a 5th year pharmacy student at the Medical University of Lodz, in Poland. I am also the current EPSA Vice President of Education, and an intern at Vaccines Europe (VE) being a specialised vaccines group within the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA)
I decided to join the VE team because matters such as public health, immunisation and the pharmaceutical industry interest me a lot. Therefore, VE seemed (and still seems) to be a perfect place for me to learn and grow!
During my internship I’ve been working on various topics including vaccines market, stakeholder engagement, regulatory and advocacy, however my key projects concern mainly vaccines market access pathways, HTA of vaccines, regulatory aspects of vaccines as well as assessment of vaccination systems around Europe. In addition, I have the chance to represent EPSA within VE and thus bring professionals closer to our EPSA community. Moving to Brussels and becoming an EPSA intern involves finding both opportunities and challenges. My 2-month internship has already helped me better understand different aspects of the pharmaceutical market, patients’ health access and advocacy. On top of that, I have this unique chance to represent EPSA during various events in Brussels and spend lovely time together with the rest of the interns Yours in EPSA, Katarzyna Dąbrowska Vice President of Education 2022/2023
News from Interns
Hello! My name is Beatriz Nobre and I recently graduated in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University of Lisbon in the Faculty of Pharmacy. I am at the moment 23 years old and the current Training Coordinator for EPSA. As a student who had the tendency to get involved in some EPSA initiatives, such as becoming a Trainer, for example, I could see what kind of opportunities EPSA opened for its students. Not only the students but the members of the EPSA Team! As I understood the challenge and adventure it was more than having a 10-month internship in the pharmaceutical sector, but to have the chance to live in Brussels while doing so, I knew I couldn’t let the moment slip by. Luckily, the opportunities that the EPSA Interns’ Project offers suit a lot of different preferences in areas in the professional environment! I applied for Medicines for Europe because I would like to understand how the work of a European organisation worked and its alignment with the European Union vision, but understanding as well how the generic industry worked and how it placed among the European market was definitely a big interest. Today, almost two months in, besides representing EPSA within Medicines for Europe and taking part in events to advocate it, I am able to work in an environment where all different stakeholders gather together to further discuss the patients' health access in the Regulatory framework Yours in EPSA, Beatriz Nobre Training Coordinator 2022/2023
News from Interns
My name is Andrei-Tudor Budan and I am a 5th year student at the Faculty of Pharmacy from Bucharest, Romania. I am currently holding the position of Parliamentarian in EPSA and as of the 12th of September, I am also the new EPSA Intern for the European Association of the Self-Care Industry (AESGP)
In my first years of Faculty, as I was slowly getting acquainted with EPSA, there were a few EPSA Interns that I knew and that told me a lot about this project. From the second I heard about this, I wanted to be involved in working for a European association and it has been my goal for these past years. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be accepted during my first year in the EPSA Team and I am now representing, along with the AESGP Team, manufacturers of non-prescription medicines, food supplements, and selfcare medical devices in Europe, an area also referred to as “self-care” or “ consumer healthcare” products.
Yours in EPSA, Andrei-Tudor Budan
Parliamentarian 2022/2023
News from Brussels
News from Brussels
Live EHSAS Meeting
At the beginning of September, a live EHSAS meeting was held in both Leuven and Brussels. EPSA has been a very active part of EHSAS over the years, bringing attention to important healthrelated topics to advocate for. During this meeting, besides sharing of good practices between all European Healthcare Students' Associations, we were also able to discuss future projects and initiatives together, such as an Interprofessional Advocacy Action Group and the collaboration taking place with the European Medicines Agency.
World Mental Health Day 2022
On October 10th, Catarina Silva, EPSA VP EA, was present at the European Parliament to celebrate World Mental Health Day at the invitation of Mental Health Europe. This year's event was on "Migrants, Refugees and Mental Health" This was a very important meeting in order to understand how crucial it is to achieve cohesive and healthy communities and, more inclusive and accessible mental health promotion, prevention and services.
News from Brussels
European Cancer Summit 2022
During the 16th and 17th of October, EPSA Interns attended the European Cancer Summit 2022 under the premise "Delivering Effective & Equitable Care Together". Having in mind the importance of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan and its impact in the Healthcare sector, in this event, we were able to learn about the EU’s Cancer policy agenda with a keynote speech from MEP Mariya Gabriel. Besides the possibility of learning about the most recent developments on this topic, our attendance was fruitful in a way of collecting data and important information for future campaigns to raise awareness.
News from Members
News from Members
PPSA
Steps forward in PPSA
Masculine forms of the names of professions and titles are commonly used in Polish language. Although female forms exist, only masculine forms are being used in everyday speech and in all polish documents. Since last October, PPSA has been working on a motion to implement female forms to organisation’s official documents. For the whole year, PPSA management has had many discussions and made analysis in this field Appropriate materials, such as: European Parliament guidelines on the use of gender equality language (2018), Position of the Polish Language Council at the Presidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences on female forms of names of professions and titles (2019), were provided to the members, thanks to which they could familiarise themselves with the applicable provisions on this subject. After that, PPSA management conducted a survey among members, in which about 354 members participated. More than 60% of them stood for implementing female forms to organisation’s documents and more than 80% for using them in PPSA’s social media. From this time, PPSA management has been working very hard by implementing all those changes to the organisation's documentation to finally present a new version of those documents in September, during the General Assembly, to Official Delegates for acceptance. This year, PPSA also started to use female versions on social media. Deployment of these changes to PPSA documentation was an important step towards emphasising equality and the presence of women in all positions, including high-ranking ones. It is also showing respect to women, by using female versions of names of professions and titles. Such solutions are still not practised in Poland in the majority of cases. We find it a necessity to implement those forms to all documents in Poland and to use them in everyday language We are very proud and pleased that we can be pioneers in these kinds of actions and initiatives Another step that we would like to take in this direction is the development of PPSA documents in a form favourable to non-binary people.
Justyna Mrowiec, Spokesperson and Oliwia Dobbek, Vice President of International Relations spokesperson@ptsf.pl
News from Members
ANEPF
ANEPF advocacy in our Social Security Financing Project
The subject that has occupied us most at the beginning of the year, at ANEPF, is the PLFSS. What is it? It is the Social Security Financing Project. It sets the spending targets for our public health service, based on financial forecasts and revenues. It is a law project voted on every year by the National Assembly: the French Institution whose role is to debate, propose, amend and vote on laws, as well as to control the action of the Government. It is, therefore, a decisive period and project in French political life, and especially for our health system!
What is the link between ANEPF and the PLFSS?
From the moment the project is tabled in the National Assembly, and its vote, several weeks pass, during which all the stakeholders propose amendments and advocate. ANEPF as a representative of the pharmacy students of France, and thus future health professionals, writes each year a contribution including several proposals. During one month, we show and defend our positions and proposals, with other stakeholders, to the deputies and senators. So that these decision-makers can defend them and so that our proposals constitute amendments to the law!
You will find below our contribution with our proposals for the PLFSS 2022, in French, but it will give you a more concrete idea!
Pauline LAVENANT, Vice President of European Affairs in ANEPF affaires.europeennes@anepf.org
News from Members
APEF
Pharmaceutical Education: which priorities?
During this year, APEF has been working intensively around Pharmaceutical Education, in order to gather as much information as possible about the students’ perspective on it.
Having this in mind, we developed a survey, aimed at both students and young pharmacists, in order to identify their main concerns on their curricula and therefore develop an advocacy strategy to tackle them alongside relevant stakeholders, such as the Higher Education Institutions that lecture Pharmaceutical Sciences.
In this survey, we inquired a lot of different topics, such as the potentialities of the profession and the correlated preparation that their studies provide for it, the content of their curricula regarding different subjects and important healthcare related matters, and the amount of clinical practice provided and required, for example.
We were able to gather inputs from 467 students and 173 young pharmacists, in strict collaboration with the Portuguese Young Pharmacists Association. Currently, we’re analysing the results in order to present them in a public session, during the next 25th of November, open to all pharmaceutical students, pharmacists and relevant stakeholders. After this, the path to follow is clear: coordinate an advocacy strategy with public entities who can help us achieve the results we envision for our work, in order to get the best outcomes possible for this essential matter to our students - the Pharmaceutical Education.
Josué Moutinho, APEF’s Liaison Secretary and Advocacy Platform Representative ls@apef.pt
News from Members
BPhD
Changes to the national Pharmacy Study Regulations
The new BPhD-Team has become very well established since the last general assembly and the new board elected there. In the future, the work will focus on the amendment of the Approbationsordnung für Apotheker (national study and licensing regulations). The intention is to adapt the pharmacy study for future challenges and integrate more research experience, methods and topics of modern pharmacy. This requires changes in federal regulations and will therefore involve the entire board team. Talks with federal politicians have recently begun.
The BPhD is currently working with the bvmd (medical students association) on a joint statement on the benefits of interprofessional collaboration. Since the introduction of pharmaceutical services (specific services provided in common pharmacies) in Germany, an enormous professional political dispute has arisen, in which physicians unfortunately lead an envy debate against pharmacists. The resolution of the joint student statement will be that interprofessional collaboration is fruitful, beneficial for all involved, especially the patients, and first and foremost sustainable.
In mid-November, the BPhD will meet for its 133rd association conference in Frankfurt. This will also be devoted to the topic of the Approbationsordnung and the revision of the study program.
Julian
Held, Officer for health politics in BPhD epsa@bphd.de
News from Members
ŠSSFD
Survey on vaccination in Slovenian community pharmacies
In June 2022, in ŠSSFD we decided to conduct a survey to gather our students´ opinion about vaccination in slovenian community pharmacies. We believe that vaccination in pharmacies would lessen the burden of healthcare centres (nurses and doctors) and make vaccination more accessible to people in rural areas.
It is our belief that vaccine hesitancy, because of misinformation, was a major problem in Slovenia during COVID-19 pandemic. Pharmacists represent some of the most accessible healthcare professionals with excellent knowledge to provide counsel about vaccines. There are also a number of countries that achieved higher vaccination rates against infectious diseases with the implementation of vaccination in pharmacies. We were eager to find out what the future generation of pharmacists think about such ideas. Our sample of students consisted of 88 students from Faculty of pharmacy (UL), 85,2% of which attended MPharm programme. Our main conclusions from the survey were that 77,3% of participants supported the idea about vaccination in community pharmacies, 62,5% of students thought that implementing vaccination in community pharmacies would improve vaccination rates against infectious diseases and 83% agreed that vaccination in pharmacies would make vaccines more accessible. It is promising that 72,7% of students accept the implementation of corresponding competences (for vaccinators) in the curriculum if vaccination would take place in community pharmacies in the future.
Tjaša Možek (EPSA Liaison Secretary in ŠSSFD) ls.slovenia@dsfs.si
News from Members
K.N.P.S.V.
Start-up of our new committee for pharmaceutical policy
During the 118th mandate of the K.N.P.S.V. it was decided to start up a committee for pharmaceutical policy. This was done to increase the input of the K.N.P.S.V. in international advocacy projects and to relieve the president and commissioner of general affairs in the K.N.P.S.V. board from some of their tasks, who were the EPSA Advocacy Platform Representatives (APRs) in the past.
Since November 2022, the committee has been formed and includes the commissioner of general affairs of the K.N.P.S.V. board, who is the contact person for EPSA, the commissioner of foreign affairs of the K.N.P.S.V. board, who is the contact person for IPSF, and a member of three of our four local associations. Ultimately, the goal is to have multiple members for all four of our local associations so we can be involved in many projects and divide the tasks. Members can stay in the committee for longer than a year, and new members can join at any time. With this, we hope to create a good workflow where members can help each other and students can become the master. On Sunday, the 20th of November, the committee held the first meeting. Here we divided the positions, as every committee requires a president, who will also be EPSA’s APR, next to the commissioner of general affairs, the secretary and the treasurer. We also discussed our goal for this mandate: we want to design at least one thematic week around an already existing K.N.P.S.V. activity with an advocacy/policy/public health-related topic. In this way, we can share the campaign on our social media but also directly with our members through the activity. We also plan on staying up to date with other national and international advocacy projects to see where we can give input. For example, we discussed a recent question that came from EPSA’s advocacy platform regarding a policy paper on Health Digitalisation and formulated points that we would consider interesting for the survey. Finally, we brainstormed on specific topics that we would like to design a campaign around. It was a very successful start and we look forward to the rest of the mandate and getting involved!
Eline Modder (Commissioner of General Affairs and EPSA Liaison Secretary) commissarisalgemenezaken@knpsv.nl
National News
National News
Poland Step forward in Polish Pharmacy
Recently, the Ministry of Health implemented two important changes for the pharmaceutical environment. One of them concerns education of pharmacists and the other their safety in pharmacy. The Polish Ministry of Health is planning to implement changes into education standards preparing to work as a pharmacist. At the end of September 2022, an order was published in the government newspaper on the establishment of a commission that will facilitate the development of these changes. The commission is obliged to submit a proposal of amendment to the Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education from 2nd of July 2019, on education standards preparing to practise the profession of doctor, dentist, pharmacist, nurse, midwife, laboratory diagnostician, physiotherapist and paramedic. Pharmaceutical environment is looking forward to those changes, although they are still to be proposed. Pharmacists have gained many new rights and duties as a profession since the last actualisation of educational programmes for pharmacy students. Therefore, implementing new, advanced solutions, focused on practicals, interdisciplinarity and communication with patients, is needed.
In July this year, in Poland, an amendment to the Pharmacy Profession Act and Pharmaceutical Law was implemented. This amendment recognises a pharmacist working in a pharmacy as a public officer. The main aim of these changes was to protect pharmacists against verbal and physical assaults. Such a need was noticed because of patient’s offensive behaviour to pharmacists associated with Covid-19 pandemic and vaccination provided by pharmacists. The pharmacy carries out activities related to health protection just like hospitals or medical centres, so people working there are exposed to similar risk. Therefore, as this kind of law protects, for instance, doctors and paramedics, it is logical and reasonable that the pharmacy profession should also be protected by that regulation, especially after all those unfortunate events. We hope that thanks to those changes, our profession will gain even more respect and pharmacists will be safe during their work.
Mrowiec, Spokesperson in PPSA and Oliwia Dobbek, Vice President of International Relations in PPSA spokesperson@ptsf.pl
Justyna
National News
National News
Germany
Pharmacist competencies and pharmaceutical supply regulations
Since June of this year, German pharmacies have been allowed to offer flu vaccination as a standard service. Corresponding model projects of recent years in individual German states have thus been consolidated. The Pharmacists' Association and the statutory health insurance have negotiated the financing.
At the beginning of October, the German Health Minister Lauterbach announced that the financing of homeopathic preparations by the statutory health insurance is to be put to the test. In Germany, homeopathic medicines are partially covered by health insurers as a statutory or supplementary benefit.
On October 27, the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) presented a key points paper on the legalisation of cannabis for consumption purposes. The current government declared this goal for their term and the planned amendment would remove the narcotic status for cannabis.
A few days ago, the German parliament (Bundestag) also passed a law to stabilise the statutory health insurance system. As a result, both on-site pharmacies and the pharmaceutical industry will have to reckon with financial losses over the next two years.
Julian Held, Officer for health politics in BPhD epsa@bphd.de
National News
Greece
Launch of the campaign for the support of mother-pharmacists in Thessaloniki
The Pharmacy Union of Thessaloniki is creating a protective umbrella for women pharmacists, by undertaking the design of a questionnaire regarding the most important problems women pharmacists face in their routine, to meet their multifaceted role as mothers, wives and health professionals.
Initially, the questionnaire will be filled out by the members of the PUT and then by the rest of the country’s pharmacists, female as well as male. The conclusions will become recommendations that will be submitted to the Panhellenic Pharmacy Union and the relevant authorities for action.
The presentation of the pioneering action was made during a round table held during the 20th-anniversary PHARMA point organised by the PUT. The vice-president of the PUT had personally addressed questions to the European Union to understand the practices of other Member States and create the questionnaire accordingly - which is the first one made throughout Europe.
Women pharmacists of the Union presented their personal stories and their proposals, such as the lengthier exemption from on-call duty for new mothers , the creation of nurseries with the support of the PPU, the subsidy of an employee during the last months of pregnancy by the state or the PPU, etc.
Myrto Dimoula, Liaison Secretary in GPSF and Evi Papadopoulou, President in GPSF ls.gpsf@gmail.com
